Happy National Poetry Month! This week I participated in a fun lunch-time poetry workshop with my friend Shutta Crum, sponsored by the Jax Poetry Fest. The workshop was entitled BEYOND HAIKU and introduced 3 short forms that were new to me: Tetractys, Pensee, and Chastushka. The beauty of short forms with very specific structures is […]

Lucky me! I got an early look at one of Lee Bennett Hopkins’ final poetry anthologies, Bless Our Pets. The book features poems of gratitude for all kinds of pets, from goldfish to gerbils, and hamsters to horses. Lucky you–I’m going to share a few of my favorite spreads from the book: Kristine O’Connell George’s […]

I’m still keeping up (at least most days) with the challenge of a poem a day for Laura Shovan’s February Poetry Project. Sunday was my turn to offer a prompt, and I relied on one of my NYTimes word game addictions. I posted the previous day’s spelling bee answers (maybe I just wanted to show-off […]

Like many other Poetry Friday folks, I’ve been participating in Laura Shovan’s February Poetry Project. The theme this month is games. Other than a daily obsession with a few of the NYTimes word games, I’m not really much of a game player. BUT, I do enjoy the challenge of a poem a day and plan […]

It’s been bitter cold for the past week in Michigan. I’ve managed to get outside every day (although the hound has decided he’s a warm weather friend–icy paws are not his gig.) The warmth of a poetry class was especially welcome this week. I had read that April Halprin Wayland was offering a 3-hour poetry […]

Happy winter solstice! It’s a gray day in Michigan, which seems fitting for the shortest day of the year. The smattering of snow we had earlier this week is mostly gone. But even though today is the solstice, sunset has been getting later for the past couple of weeks. Starting tomorrow the day length will […]

Welcome to Poetry Friday! I’m happy to be your host today–please leave your links at the end of this post. I’m looking forward to visiting your blogs. I appreciate being able to spend time outside every day when the world news is so difficult. We’ve had a spectacular fall, but winter was eager to make […]

Happy Poetry Friday! Irene Latham, today’s Poetry Friday host and all-around inspiring human being, requested that bloggers share poems about the moon. Irene is celebrating her new poetry collection, THE MUSEUM ON THE MOON, about objects people have left on the moon. One of my favorite poems about the moon (and apparently also Irene’s!) is […]

Welcome to Poetry Friday. I’m happy to host the roundup today. The air is a little smoky in my neck of the woods, but not as bad as some of you are enduring. Here’s hoping that rain arrives soon and that smoke and haze disappear! Fortunately I’m still able to spend time outside, watching all […]

This week I had the pleasure of attending a lunch-time workshop with Shutta Crum (a Michigan friend and writer whom I have long admired) on writing nocturnes and aubades. The workshop was sponsored by Hope at Hand as part of the Jacksonville Poetry Fest. If you are like pre-workshop me, you might have little to […]